The Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig Fund) achieved a record-high first-quarter collection from its members under its Modified Pag-Ibig 2 (MP2) Savings Program despite the pandemic.
Pag-Ibig Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti told reporters on Friday that members collectively saved P6.7 billion in the first quarter of this year, the highest-ever amount saved by members under their voluntary savings program during the first quarter of any year since 2011.
This is also 43 percent higher compared to P4.67 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
Given this, Moti said, they are projecting that MP2 savings for the entire year this 2021 will soar to a new record high by year-end, perhaps even exceeding last year’s record P13.3 billion.
“Last year, it was P13.3 billion. So this year, first quarter alone is P6.7 [billion]. So if we multiply that by three or four, we can easily see that we will definitely overtake last year’s record of P13.3 billion,” he said.
MP2 Savings Program is a voluntary savings platform for Pag-Ibig Fund members who wish to save more and earn high dividends, in addition to their Pag-Ibig Fund Regular Savings.
In the first quarter of the year, Moti said, regular savings reached P9.1 billion, up by 13 percent from P8.04 billion in the same period in 2020.
However, this is still a bit lower compared to the record-high P9.22 billion it posted in the first quarter of 2019.
“The reason for this, of course… is that due to the unemployment because of the 2 million members who used to be active and you know were no longer active members,” he said.
As of end-2020, there are currently 12.77 million active Pag-Ibig Fund members.
Despite the pandemic, Pag-Ibig Fund also saw its first-quarter net income increasing to P8.3 billion, up by 3.7 percent from last year’s P8.03 billion on the back of fewer expenses due to the pandemic.
Last year, Pag-Ibig Fund’s suffered a 9-percent drop in its net income as it fell to P31.18 billion from a record-high of P34.37 billion in 2019 due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19.